Malcolm Turnbull moves to ease Chinese pain but is it enough?

As venues to make a concession to Australia's biggest economic benefactor go, a university campus offered rich symbolism.

While the shipments of coal and iron ore bound for Chinese steel mills have continued, it has been the reputation of Australia's higher education sector that has borne the brunt of Canberra's recent difficulties with Beijing.

"Safety" warnings issued to students about the dangers they faced on Australian campuses, claims that Chinese students have been brainwashed to toe the Communist Party line and reports of pervasive Chinese influence on academia had turned universities into ground zero.

From left, Chinese Consul General Gu Xiaojie, Chinese Ambassador Cheng Jingye and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the University of New South Wales on Tuesday. Dean Lewins

So when Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull used a speech to an international education conference at the University of NSW yesterday to "reset" the relationship with China, it was intended to send a strong signal.

More important was one member of its audience: China's ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye and through him ultimately China's leadership including president Xi Jinping.

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Turnbull did not offer an apology for the pointed criticism of China that has come from some politicians, bureaucrats and media in recent months; and nor should he.

China's growing assertiveness – through such actions as its militarisation of the South China Sea and attempts to use its economic muscle to curry favour with poorer nations – remains the single biggest challenge to Australian foreign policy, a challenge already hard enough without Donald Trump wreaking havoc across the globe.

But Turnbull's speech signals a step change in rhetoric, a throwback to the days when he was less a China hawk (but by no means a return to him being a 'panda hugger'). He went back to one of his favourite themes, the desire to avoid falling into the "Thucydides trap" with its risk of war breaking out between a rising power and an established one feeling threatened.

Turnbull acknowledges that a "stronger, richer" China will be more "confident and assertive" on the global stage. The natural consequence of that will be it seeking to persuade other countries that its point of view is correct.

For Beijing, whose lament seems to be that China just wants a little bit of R-E-S-P-E-C-T, this will be welcome.

Turnbull also offers a more open view to Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative. While Australia is still not rushing to sign up, Turnbull said he looked forward to working with China on projects, subject to our due diligence.

Again, this would be well received in Beijing, especially after Australia, the US and Japan unveiled their plans last week for their own Indo-Pacific infrastructure fund, which was immediately defined as a rival to the BRI.

Turnbull downplays any suggestion of rivalry, offering a neat explanation that Australia welcomes infrastructure investment from anyone, although does add the caveat that lending should promote sustainable economic development and freedom. He offers up his own pet energy project, pumped hydro, as an area ripe for cooperation.

Turnbull also offers sympathy for China's position in the trade war with Trump. While Australia has taken a dim view of Trump's protectionism, Turnbull draws upon his metaphor of protectionism being a shovel to dig a low growth trap deeper, and Xi's of locking oneself in a darkened room, as a show of support.